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Archive for the ‘commute community’ Category

ADAPT Adopt-A-Stop Unveiled Today

Posted in accessibility, adopt-a-stop, community, commute community, events, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on May 17, 2013 | 1 Comment »

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Earlier today Capital Metro staff joined members of ADAPT in unveiling two newly adopted bus stops outside of the ADAPT offices, located at East 2nd and Chalmers.

ADAPT members kicked off the ribbon cutting ceremony by picking up litter in the area along Route 320. Members then officially adopted their stops with a ceremonial ribbon tearing.

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At the ceremony ADAPT Community Advocate and H.A.N.D. Board Member Nancy Crowther said, “We are excited to be representing the community because it’s very important to us, with accessible transportation. We also care about our community, that’s why we’re cleaning it up at our bus stop.”

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Regional Transit System: A Thing of the Future?

Posted in All Systems Go, bus routes, Capital Metro news, community, commute community, customer service, Driving Progress, MetroRail, MetroRapid, planning, serviceplan2020, train, transit planning, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on February 15, 2013 | 1 Comment »

Capital Metro has partnered with other transit agencies in the central Texas region, like the City of Austin, CAMPO and the Lone Star Rail District to create a plan for regional high-capacity transit.

What would that look like?

Imagine a series of components like urban rail, commuter rail (like MetroRail), Rapid service, and express lanes where all services support one another in a network, easing access throughout the region.

Sounds nice, right? Well, it looks even better. Check out this detailed vision map with all the system elements to help you share our vision for how to create a connected central Texas.

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(Download PDF version)

Now, you too can view the full details of the Project Connect transportation plan and partnership at ConnectCentralTexas.com.

But, wait there’s more!

Well, now that the vision has come together, the partners want your feedback. What do you think?

It’s your chance to share your thoughts at any of the following opportunities:

Tuesday, Feb. 19, 5 – 8 p.m. Seton Medical Center Hays (Cafeteria), 6001 Kyle Parkway, Kyle, TX.

Wednesday, Feb. 20, 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. Austin Energy (Assembly Room); 721 Barton Springs Road, Austin, TX.

Wednesday, Feb. 20, 5 – 8 p.m. Williamson Conference Center, 209 N. IH-35 Frontage Road, Round Rock, TX.

Tuesday, Feb. 26, 12 – 1 p.m. Webinar – Register online at ConnectCentralTexas.com/get-involved.

The Project Connect partners also invite the public to participate in an ongoing online discussion regarding the regional transit vision.

Reasonable modifications and equal access to communications are provided upon request.  Please call 512-369-6201 or email info@ConnectCentralTexas.com for more information.

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Ride With Us So You Can March — MLK Day Mon, Jan 21

Posted in community, commute community, events, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , on January 18, 2013 | 4 Comments »

Ride with us to the March and celebrate the legacy of Dr Martin Luther King, Jr while highlighting and uplifting diversity and multiculturalism in our city at the Austin Area Heritage Council’s 20th Annual Citywide Martin Luther King, Jr Community March & Rally on Monday, January 21, 2013.

The #2 bus (Rosewood) will run every 15 minutes until 4pm.

9:00 am March begins at the MLK Statue on the University of Texas

10:00 am – 10:45 am MLK Program at the State Capital; March continues

11:00 am – 4:00 pm March ends; Festival begins at Huston-Tillotson University
(Be sure to visit the Capital Metro booth!)

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Routes 2, 4, 18, 21/22 will get you to and from the MLK March & Rally and Celebration (including back to the parking garages near UT, H-T, and the State Capitol).

Regular fares apply. (Single Ride $1, Day Pass $2.00. Reduced Fare: Single Ride $.50, Day Pass $1. Children five and under with an accompanying adult, and emergency and military personnel in uniform ride Capital Metro bus and rail services at no charge.) Use Capital Metro’s online trip planner http://www.capmetro.org/planner/ or call the Go-Line at 512-474-1200 for information about routes and schedules.

Rider Alert:

Capital Metro will operate its Saturday bus schedule in observance of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. There will be no MetroRail, UT Shuttle or E-Bus service.

MetroAccess customers needing to keep their subscription trips on Jan. 21 will need to call (512) 478-9647 to schedule them. The reservation line will be staffed on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Capital Metro administrative offices and the Transit Store will be closed Jan. 21; however the GO Line will be staffed from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and customers will still have 24-hour access to the automated phone line and online trip planner.

For more information on the Martin Lither King, Jr celebration activities, visit http://www.mlkcelebration.com/

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Holiday Sing-Along & Downtown Stroll: Saturday, December 1

Posted in commute community, events, happy passengers, Holiday events, Uncategorized, Web, tagged , , , , on November 30, 2012 | Leave a Comment »

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The Downtown Austin Alliance and KUT 90.5 invite visitors to start their holidays downtown THIS SATURDAY, Dec. 1, during the annual Holiday Sing-Along and Downtown Stroll!

The evening starts at 6 p.m. when crowds gather on the south steps of the Capitol to sing the songs of the season during John Aielli’s Holiday Sing-Along. As the clock chimes 7 p.m., the countdown to the lighting of the Capitol tree begins – this year featuring a new 40 foot tree with lights programmed to local Holiday music.

From 7 to 9 p.m. Congress Ave. will be abuzz with holiday cheer during the Downtown Stroll. Shops, restaurants, galleries, and museums will be open late and will feature art installations, special activities, offers or refreshments to visitors. Highlight of this year’ s Stroll include:

  • Congress Avenue Lights: a project that will light all 136 trees on The Main Street of Texas from Lady Bird Lake to the Capitol, 365 days a year.
  • Congress Avenue will be illuminated with site-specific projections by Austin-based video, gaming and light artists, curated by artist and VJ Stephen Fishman
  • Holiday Gals with Marcia Ball, Christine Albert and Sarah Elizabeth Campbell at Frost Bank Plaza
  • Santa at the State Theatre and Classic Holiday Cartoons at the Paramount
  • And more! Check downtownaustinholidays.com for a full schedule of events
metrorail-75px The DAA encourages you to stroll downtown with Capital Metro’s commuter train MetroRail! Plan your train or bus trip at http://www.capmetro.org/planner/.

All events are free and open to the public, but if you can please support fellow members of the community by bringing non-perishable food or cash contribution to support the Capital Area Food Bank. Celebrate the Season Downtown!

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New App Helping Austinites On-The-Go

Posted in community, commute community, fares, trip planning, Uncategorized, Web, tagged , , , , , , on November 7, 2012 | 6 Comments »

Capital Metro now offers a 100% FREE mobile app. It keeps your commute efficient with a Trip Planner, schedule times, service alerts and more–right at your fingertips!

Best of all, now you can purchase fares from the palm of your hand. That’s right! We’ve enabled this new feature TODAY. Now, you can take a sneak-peek of this fare purchasing feature and enjoy the full-capability of the Capital Metro app.

Use the Capital Metro app in FIVE EASY STEPS!

Step 1: Using your smartphone, easily locate the Capital Metro app by Bytemark in the App Store (http://ow.ly/eVh3u) or Google Play (http://ow.ly/eVh7a).

Look for some screen images that look like these:

Download the app for FREE!!

Step 2: Use this blue and green homescreen to navigate throughout the mobile app to reach: Schedules, Routes/Maps, Event info, Advisories and More Info.

Click the bottom row of the screen to navigate back to home, Buy Passes, Use Passes or change your profile settings.

Step 3: Buy Passes by clicking the shopping cart icon at the bottom, which will take you to this screen:

You will see the options to purchase either Local or Regional Passes. Tap the green plus circle to add the fare to your cart.

Step 4: Use Passes

When you are ready to board the bus or train and validate your fare, click the ticket icon at the bottom bar to Use Passes.

A screen like the one above will show up where you will see which passes you have available to validate. Simply tap on the pass you’d like to use and choose: “Use Selected Passes” at the bottom.

Tickets are available immediately after purchase, but once you activate your fare, the clock is ticking on the expiration date. Activate your fare just prior to boarding.

Step 5: As you are boarding, show the validate fare screen to the bus operator or train fare platform inspector. The validated screen will look like this:

The fare you have selected and amount will be shown on-screen along with the time and date of expiration. You bus operator or the fare inspector on your train may ask you to touch the screen as a security measure. Touching the screen will activate a visual change to the screen indicating a valid fare.

That’s it! Using the Capital Metro app is easy!

A few tips to keep in mind:

- The mobile app will only be available during a specific piloting phase until November 24.

- Capital Metro will not offer refunds for fares purchased via the app.

- Please call customer service for problems loading the app at (512) 474-1200 available: M-F 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., Saturday 8 a.m. – 5 p.m., Sunday 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.

- If you have more questions check out our app FAQ section.

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Capital Metro Wins National Award

Posted in bus routes, community, commute community, events, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , on October 17, 2012 | Leave a Comment »

These bus/train ads have been up and down Austin streets for a few months now. They’re all about going downtown and grabbin’ a ride on MetroRail to get you where you need to go. If you’ve noticed them, you’re not alone — they’ve caught the attention of the American Public Transportation Association.

Earlier this month, Capital Metro found out we won the APTA AdWheel Award for this “Go Downtown” campaign we started in March when we began running Friday and Saturday night service! APTA contests are no joke, so this award means a lot to our team and lands us some major props in the industry.

The campaign mission originally was solely intended to encourage and inform riders like you about the new night rail service, but it’s cool too that someone else noticed our efforts because there were a  lot of very creative people who invested many hours into making the “Go Downtown” project shine.

Each year, APTA honors members’ marketing and communications efforts with the AdWheel Awards. Awards are presented in five main media categories: print, electronic, campaigns, social media, and special events. Recipients are honored in a special ceremony at APTA’s Annual Meeting, held each October.

So, thanks APTA for recognizing Capital Metro’s efforts through this award — it means a lot to us, but more importantly, we hope riders like you are continuing to enjoy Friday and Saturday night service and know we appreciate you for riding Capital Metro! Next time you see these cool ads around town, you’ll know they’re actually award-winning.

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Project Connect-North Corridor Study Seeking Public Input on Regional Transit Options

Posted in community, commute community, transit planning, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on October 12, 2012 | Leave a Comment »

Earlier this year, Capital Metro held community open houses to introduce Project Connect: North Corridor, a transportation study to address long-term mobility and access issues in the corridor that includes the communities of Georgetown, Round Rock, Pflugerville and central Austin.

Public open houses were held in two locations, including the Municipal JusticeCenter in Pflugerville on June 19th and Austin Energy’s Assembly Room in Austin on June 21st.

We want to hear from you!

While the community open houses were well attended, Capital Metro would like to expand opportunities for the public to provide input on the project through an online open house. In as little as ten minutes, you will learn more about the 18-24 month study and be able to provide feedback about the mobility challenges you experience in the North Corridor.

The online open house is accessible via the project website at www.connectcentraltexas.com and can be accessed now through Nov. 07.  Participants can view examples of high-capacity transit options, review a number of exhibits that explain the project, use an interactive map to draw in suggested transportation alternatives and complete an online questionnaire.

We encourage you to get involved and send us your thoughts on improving mobility and access issues in the North Corridor!

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Twitter Name: Now @CapMetroATX

Posted in bikes, bus routes, bus schedules, community, commute community, customer service, detours, events, MetroRail, MetroRapid, rider tips, train, twitter, Uncategorized, Web, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on October 11, 2012 | Leave a Comment »

Tweet, Tweet!

For those of you who follow our Twitter activity (or may want to), you may have noticed our recent change of account names.

In the past, we have communicated to followers using two separate Twitter accounts: CapMetroNews and CapMetroRail. Having two accounts made sense leading up to the opening of MetroRail, but now it’s just sort of confusing. People tweet us with rail-related inquiries at CapMetroNews and with bus issues at CapMetroRail. Plus, having two accounts sometimes contributes to a delay in us responding.

Going into our new fiscal year in October 1, we wanted to use that date as a benchmark for turning over a new leaf in our Communications efforts – including Twitter.

Going into the future, we have changed the name of our CapMetroRail account to @CapMetroATX. This will be our one and only account where we’ll provide bus and rail service updates as well as relevant news and rider tips. Over the next two weeks we’ll phase-out our CapMetroNews account.

We know by following one sole account, you may get more info than before. So, how can you filter the info you get notifications about, if you want?

By using certain apps, you can make settings to only get notified of certain hashtags, versus receiving all our Tweets.

We’ll be operating via these hashtags:

#MetroRailAlert: for specific delay alerts on MetroRail

#MetroBusAlert: for all bus-related service alerts

So, for example, if you began following our rail account and only wish to continue receiving rail-related messages, set-up your account to send only messages including the #MetroRailAlert hashtag.

How to set specific alerts up? This useful YouTube video helps you use TweetDeck for setting-up hashtag notifications:

If you’re not into Tweet Deck, there’s also Boxcar for push notifications as well.

This change may take some getting used to, but it’s for the better — to provide improved communications and customer service. So, jump right it, follow us at www.twitter.com/CapMetroATX.

Tweet you soon!

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Capital Metro is the Best Ride to Austin City Limits

Posted in community, commute community, detours, ebus, events, MetroRail, rider tips, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , on October 9, 2012 | 1 Comment »

We know you music lovers are focused on finding the best shows and sets during the Austin City Limits music festival – we don’t blame you. We want to help you get there as fast and easily as possible.

That’s why we’re partnering with ACL again this year to bring you FREE shuttle service from Republic Square to the music’s doorstep — at Zilker Park.

It’s easy. From Oct. 12 – 14 all you need to do is get to Republic Square. Walk, ride your bike, catch a bus, use the train. We’ve even cranked out this super-easy-to-use map to help you choose the best bus route for you. Check it out.

How to get to the shuttles:

- Take several regular Capital Metro routes, including routes 4, 21 and 22 (check map for other routes)

- Take MetroRail into downtown Austin (Friday/Saturday)

After ACL:

- Use Capital Metro’s Night Owl and E-Bus routes, (run until about 3 a.m. on Friday and Saturday nights)

During ACL, regular bus service will be detoured for route #30/Barton Creek around the area on 4th and Barton Springs west of Lamar.

Use the Trip Planner or check our ACL webpage for planning your weekend travels.

Hassle-free. Cheap. Safe. You rock. We’ll roll.

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We need your input on Proposed January Service Changes

Posted in bus routes, bus schedules, Capital Metro news, community, commute community, customer service, service changes, Uncategorized, tagged , , , on August 28, 2012 | Leave a Comment »

We need your input!

Capital Metro is proposing changes on several routes in accordance with our Service Guidelines & Standards. These changes are being proposed to improve transit access, efficiency and reliability. These proposals will go before the Capital Metro Board of Directors on September 24, 2012. If approved, these changes would take effect Sunday, January 13, 2013.

Capital Metro is making several changes to routes in South Austin, Northeast Austin, and Northcross areas. Visit our website now for a complete list and maps of the proposed January 2013 service changes and details about how to give us your feedback. The proposed route realignments, extensions and adjustments would improve efficiency, service coverage and increase ridership without an increase in cost.

We want to hear from you! All riders are encouraged to join public involvement opportunities listed below and provide your feedback. Capital Metro will conduct a series of public meetings, a webinar and public hearing. See our service change webpage for schedule details. Become involved, join the conversation and comment on specific proposals in efforts to provide effective services that meet the Austin area’s transportation needs!

Upcoming Public Involvement Dates:

Sept. 4, 2012, 12:00 – 2 p.m.
Capital Metro Transit Store, 323 Congress Ave.
Served by downtown routes

Sept. 4, 2012, 4:00 – 6:00 p.m.
North Village Branch Library
2505 Steck Ave
Served by routes 3, 325

 Sept. 5, 2012, 6:00 – 8:00 p.m.

University Hills Branch Library, 4721 Loyola Ln.

Served by routes 20, 37, 323

Sept. 5, 2012, 6:00 – 8:00 p.m.
ACC South Austin Campus, 1820 W. Stassney Ln.
Served by routes 3, 311

Webinar

Sept. 7, 2012, 12:00 p.m.
Sign-up today

If you require captioning to participate in this event, please select the link below. You may need to resize the window to view both the caption and the presentation simultaneously.

Link to webinar caption service

Public Hearing with the Capital Metro Board

 Sept. 17, 2012, 5:00 p.m.

Capital Metro Headquarters, 2910 E. 5th Street
Served by routes 17, 300

For opportunities to continue providing input to our system, please visit capmetro.icanmakeitbetter.com, email feedback@capmetro.org, or call 512-474-1200.

Thank you for riding Capital Metro!

–Follow us on Facebook and Twitter–

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